No sign of December slowdown: REINZ

December’s turnover was up almost a quarter on the same month in 2013, the latest Real Estate Institute data shows.

Thursday, January 15th 2015, 12:00AM

by The Landlord

REINZ has released its data for last month, showing 7064 dwelling sales, up 24.2% on December 2013 and down 5.7% from November. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, sales were up 4.6% on November.

The national median price was $450,000, up 5.4% on 2013.

Auckland recorded the largest percentage increase in median price compared to December 2013, with a 13% lift, followed by Wellington with a 3.8% increase and Waikato/Bay of Plenty with a 2.7% increase. Compared to November, Auckland recorded the largest percentage increase in median price, up 1.2%, followed by Taranaki with a 0.6% increase.

REINZ chief executive Helen O’Sullivan said: “The data for December shows very strong sales growth compared to 12 months ago and a much higher level of sales that we would normally expect for the final month of the year. The effect has been seen right across the country, with a number of regions seeing further increases in sales in December after a strong November. The normal December slowdown hasn’t really happened in 2014.”

But she said everywhere but Auckland, median prices had moderated.

“For the year ended December, Auckland’s median price rose by 13%, but the national median rose by only 5.4%. Even Canterbury, which has seen strong price growth during 2014 has seen its rate of price increase pull back to under 2% for the 12 months to December 2014.”

O’Sullivan said there was a split between the market in Auckland, where there was strong demand and price growth, and the rest of the country.

“While a number of regions are experiencing listing shortages the situation in Auckland is acute, with less than three months’ supply available and demand continuing to be robust. Vendors are simply not coming forward in large enough numbers to meet the demand, despite the strong price rises seen in Auckland over the past three years.”

Four regions recorded an increase in sales volume in December compared to November with Hawkes Bay recording the largest percentage increase of 7.2%, followed by Nelson/Marlborough with 6.8% and Northland with 4.2%. All regions recorded an increase in sales volume compared to December 2013. Manawatu/Wanganui recorded the largest increase of 39.7%, followed by Waikato/Bay of Plenty with an increase of 34.8% and Wellington with an increase of 32.5%.

For the month of December, Auckland, Canterbury/Westland and Otago recorded the shortest days to sell at 29 days, followed by Wellington at 35 days. Northland recorded the longest number of days to sell at 59 days, followed by Central Otago Lakes at 53 days and Hawkes Bay at 48 days. Over the past 10 years the median days to sell for the month of November has averaged 34 days across New Zealand.

Nationally there were 1439 dwellings sold by auction in December representing 20.4% of all sales, and an increase of 253 on the number of dwellings sold by auction in December 2013. For the 12 months to December 2014 the percentage of homes sold by auction was 18.5% or 13,800, compared to 16,505 (20.6%) for the year ending December 2013.

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